In my childhood in the 1950s and 60s, I was brought up with a myth about the Britain into which I was born. It went something like this: -...

They shall name him Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is with us’. Forgive me for a sermon, but it is Advent! These words are quoted from...

I married Natalie when aged 62. We both agreed that we wanted children, although we didn’t think it would take this long! In July of this...

Natalie wanted a cheesy film binge on Hallowe’en and opted for Hocus Pocus. Unfortunately, she was stymied by the fact that the internet...

Was Anne Boleyn black? The answer, based on portraits of her, is no. But the question relates to the current Channel 5 series on the...

It looks like a headline in one of those cheap magazines you find lying about in the hairdresser’s, doesn’t it? It's true in my case,...

Why did the Tories do so well in the recent council elections and in the Hartlepool by-election? Admittedly, it wasn’t all bad for...

The man on TV who really made me mad this week was Sir Charles Walker, Conservative MP for Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. Sir Charles has...

If you asked me which football teams were in the FA Cup Final in any year between 1960 and the mid-1990s, I could tell you. So could any...

I was excited when Natalie told me about a novel published very recently, Names of the Women by Jeet Thayil. This is subject matter on...

People know that I have a strong interest in Mary, the mother of Jesus. Devotion to Mary is the area that I research: I have written and...

Normally, I take little interest in the royal family. If I am honest, I think that the concept of a royal family belongs to an age gone...

I always fancied myself as a Christian minister, although I never became one, and so I am prone to giving the odd reflection on faith and...

Board Game Playing and Designing As a keen player of board games (sometimes without boards - just cards), and someone who likes...

For amateur astrologers like myself (note that I wrote 'astrologer' not 'astronomer'!), it is good to keep track of the Moon's cycle. The...

The 17th January 2021 was the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Mary at Pontmain in France. This is the kind of thing you notice...

I celebrated my birthday - my present from Natalie was this website! - by completing my book on Mary the mother of Jesus. I have asked...

Today is Chris' birthday! I have created this site for him to share all of his upcoming projects, thoughts, photos and general waffling...

The Centre for Marian Studies produced a journal titled Maria: A Journal of Marian Studies, published by Sheffield Academic Press,...

The Oxford Handbook of Mary was published in August 2019 in the UK (not until October in the US). It looks splendid; I hope that readers...